Thursday, August 28, 2008

My husband's younger sister is coming to visit today, and staying through Saturday. We are planning on taking a day trip tomorrow to Nogales, Mexico, something my husband has been bugging me to do for the longest time. Not exactly my idea of fun (the Mexico part, not my SIL visiting). For one, I won't take my van across the border because I like it a little too much to want to get it stolen/damaged in an accident/have drugs tacked onto it. So we are getting a rental van instead, but the Mexico insurance on it is just astronomical. Secondly, I won't be eating anything while across the border because I am 33 weeks pregnant, and getting a stomach bug could put me into labor at this point, or seriously hurt the baby. Not that I am just dying to eat there if I weren't pregnant. Thirdly, driving 6 hours there and back in one day at this point in pregnancy isn't very fun, either. Add to that 4 little kids that need frequent bathroom stops. Lastly, I just don't know what is so appealing about Nogales - maybe shopping? I guess if nothing else, after this trip I will be able to say that I have been to Mexico.

Anyway, since I knew I would not be home to do schoolwork with the kids on Friday, and would want to spend most of Thursday cleaning the house and running errands (so I won't have to do that on Saturday after our long trip), I worked ahead with the kids Monday - Wednesday. We got almost all of the week's work done, but I still have to finish up history, science, and art projects with them today. Then I have a bunch of phone calls to make, finish cleaning the kids' playroom (where our guest will be staying), run a few loads of laundry, and put away about 8 loads of clean laundry that have been piling up all week.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

At age 3 1/2, John is very verbal, and always has been. Long before he turned 2 he spoke in complete sentences and could carry on a conversation. Not only that, but he understands very abstract concepts that require some mental maturity. Anyway, he comes up with some pretty hilarious things. Here are a couple:

"My wife is popping out babies like a faucet. Every day when I come home from work, we have another baby. [long pause] Weird!"

"One time, when I was visiting a church, the pastor said he believed in God but he did not believe the Bible. I got up and ran out of there as fast as I could. Now the pastor is dead and is in hell."

I wish I could remember all the other funny things he says, but there's so much and I have "pregnant brain".

Monday, August 25, 2008

As you can guess, after three boys, we really were hoping for a girl when I was pregnant with Miriam. Not that we wouldn't have loved a boy just as much, but there wasn't as much of a "novelty factor". Lo and behold, a girl we got. On a side note, I'm pretty sure that this baby #5 is another girl.

There are many benefits to having a daughter. You can dress them up pretty. You can fix their hair (as opposed to just buzzing it short every few weeks). They are smarter and learn everything earlier. They are more compassionate and intuitive.

But boy, oh boy, does all that come at a price! Miriam is even more stubborn and opinionated than I am (hard to beat that). Seems like just this week she has taken a major turn for the worse. While I have never experienced the "terrible twos" with any of the kids, I do find 18-24 months a rough patch where they try to figure out who the boss is. Miriam is not trying to figure that out at all. Rather, she has decided that she IS the boss.

Her current obsessions are:

1) Refusing to wear any shoes, ever. Doesn't sound like a biggie until you consider that I am 8 months pregnant and don't feel like carrying her everywhere when we are in public. The asphalt is too hot and dirty to let her walk barefoot, and she doesn't want to ride in the stroller when her brothers are walking. If I wrestle her down and put shoes on her anyway, she will throw herself on the floor screaming and refuse to get up and walk even a single step. The public is not a good place to deal with this, so tonight I decided that starting tomorrow I am going to make her wear shoes in the house all day long, that way I can address her behavior and (hopefully) remedy this problem.

2) Refusing to sit in her car seat. Instead, she wants to sit in a booster seat like her big brothers. Not only is she 2 1/2 years too young for that, but it would be ridiculously unsafe for her to do so. Last week, it took me a good 5 minutes (literally!) to get her buckled in her car seat, as she was kicking and flailing everywhere, arching her back and screeching. Had I been at home trying to leave, I would have taken her back into the house, but I was trying to get home from a shopping trip.

3) Refusing to wear anything that goes past her diaper. This means she basically wants to wear a shirt and a diaper at best. After a couple of run-ins with me about this last week, she seems to be giving up on this battle now.

4) Chocolate. She is absolutely addicted to chocolate. I'm not a fan myself, but I guess it's a pretty typical girl thing.

5) Demanding to go swimming in the pool by herself. This one is even more ridiculous than the car seat issue. She recently decided that she will NEVER let anyone put her in her floatie again, nor will she allow anyone to hold her in the pool. She wants to climb in and out of the pool on the steps by the edge all alone, without anyone touching her, and no life jacket or floatie. She also wants to go walking up and down the side of the pool by herself. Obviously, I cannot allow her to do either. She cannot swim or even float on her back, and I cannot keep my eyes on her 100% of the time when there are 3 other little kids also swimming in the pool. So I can either leave her in the yard by herself, on the other side of the pool fence, while we are in the pool (and listen to her angry protest) or I can let the other kids go swimming while she is asleep. The last couple of times, I finally forced her infant life vest on her and let her play by the steps in that (once she decided I wasn't going to take her out of it no matter how angry she screamed). I think I am winning that battle, too.

And many, many more other, similar obsessions. Moody outbursts became a daily norm with her this past week, and I am trying to work really hard on correcting much of that before the new baby arrives.

On a more positive note, she has been very good in church. She still needs to learn to stay in her seat the whole time as opposed to walking around by my feet, but she is silent the whole service almost every time now.

Here are some more photos of Little Miss Independent:

This is a nice shot of what her freshly trimmed hair looks like in the back. A little short, but not bad considering she was still pretty much bald just a few months ago. Hopefully it will be a lot longer in a couple more months.

Blowing kisses at the camera after I promised her chocolate if she smiled for the picture. Solomon being the perfect big brother as he always is. As far as he is concerned, she can do no wrong.

On Sunday in her pretty new dress. Notice the two battles she won: she got the purse she wanted, and she is barefoot.

This is the little ottoman she likes to sit on during church.

This is her after she realized that there was no more candy left in her purse.

I'm glad I am a woman because I'd hate to be the guy that has to be married to one of us women for the rest of his life!

Friday, August 22, 2008

The last week has been a busy one! We celebrated Miriam's half-birthday on Thursday of last week. Since she only got a half-cake, I decided to use the remaining batter to make a trial batch of the cupcakes for Solomon's birthday next month. He wants an airplane pilot theme (don't ask how he came up with that, but this will be one of his gifts... don't tell!). My idea was to frost cupcakes blue, with white frosting clouds and chocolate airplanes I made from a mold. Being the health-conscious person I am, I went to the health food store to buy some natural blue food coloring (made from blueberries). While I didn't expect the color to come out a deep blue, I certainly wasn't prepared for the BRIGHT PINK I got. It worked great for Miriam's cake, though:

Thankfully, I had bought some all-natural blue sprinkles "just in case", and used those instead. The company that makes the sprinkles also makes a liquid food color, and since their sprinkles came out really nice I might order their liquid food color and try that instead of the brand that thinks blue is pink. Here is a picture of the cupcakes:

In case you were wondering, John still wears his fireman costume almost every single day:

Over the weekend, my husband's older sister and her youngest child came to visit for a couple of days from Texas, which was fun. Not sure why I didn't take any pictures at the time, I think the kids had lost my camera or I was out of batteries (probably both).

Last night, I got to have an evening with no kids when the ladies of our church went to a paint-your-own pottery studio. It was so nice! Unfortunately, I came home 45 minutes later than I had said I would. My husband, who knew I wouldn't want to come home to the house being turned upside down, entertained the kids outside all evening with BBQ and swimming in the pool, but brought them in just in time to have them washed up and in their PJs by the time I said I would get home. Well, I was late, and in the meantime the kids managed to smear peanut butter on just about every square inch of the sofa and floor. They then dragged all their bedsheets out to build forts in the (now dirty) living room. Of course, the kitchen already looked like disaster had struck. Not a pretty scene, but it was still worth it for a fun evening without them.

Today, I finally decided to take Miriam for her first haircut. There is a really cute kids' salon in town that has little carousel animals for kids to sit on while they get their hair cut, which I thought would distract my stubborn and opinionated daughter (did I just say that?!?) long enough to get her hair trimmed. The story went something like this:

1) I will be happy as long as you let me pick out every single purse I like. Notice my long, shaggy hair.

2) I will not, will not sit anywhere expect your lap, and even then with a mad face.

3) Did you just dare to set me down? DID YOU JUST DARE TO SET ME DOWN?!?

4) Give me the lollipop and nobody will get hurt. Just don't set me down again.

5) I'll sit here on the fender just long enough for you to pay, and then I will start screaming my head off again because now I DON'T want to leave.

I have to say that temper tantrums like this are a first for me. None of the boys ever threw a fit like that, ever. These moody outbursts must be a girl thing.

Is it any wonder that for lunch I took the kids to Sonic, which is 100% out of character for me. The last time I had fast food was 2 years ago when I was newly pregnant with Miriam and got a sick craving for a McDonald's cheeseburger, which I regretted for the rest of that day. I justified today's junk trip by telling myself that no kid can grow up in America without having gone to Sonic at least once during their childhood. But once is more than enough, as I have since decided.

Now it is just past 7 PM, and this is not a minute too soon to get all my precious youngins in bed for the night!!!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Here is an interesting article entitled "Frozen embryos 'better for IVF'". Previously frozen embryos have greater success rates than the "fresh" babies because only the fittest survive the thawing process. Another article reported on the same findings.

This article gives the details on a similar new procedure now available called "ultra-freezing": embryos are "plunged into liquid nitrogen – the coldest form of freezing known to man – before being thawed and then implanted". Attaching to mom's uterine wall is a comparatively easy task for these herculean survivors of the "ice age" they endure, brought on by their parent's cruel and cold selfishness.

This article outlined the benefits of a new chemical "fingerprinting" technique used in the screening of embryos, which could improve IVF outcomes by as much as 15%.

But just keep telling yourself that people who become parents by way of IVF are nice, normal, and loving. They are not. Here are a few case studies on that:

101 Reasons to homeschool your kids

July 25, 2008

Washington, DC

The nation's largest teachers union, the National Education Association, attracted 9,000 delegates to its annual convention in Washington, D.C., over the Fourth of July weekend. Delegates sported buttons with provocative slogans such as "Gay marriage causes Global Warming only because we are so hot!" "Hate is not a family value," "The 'Christian Right' is neither," and "Gay Rights are civil rights."

July 12, 2008

San Diego, CA

Grossmont Union High School District Governing Board President Larry Urdahl still can't believe that four Helix High School teachers violated students' trust by allegedly engaging in inappropriate relationships with them.

May 24, 2008

Port Saint Lucie, FL

Melissa Barton said she is considering legal action after her son's kindergarten teacher led his classmates to vote him out of class. After each classmate was allowed to say what they didn't like about Barton's 5-year-old son, Alex, his Morningside Elementary teacher Wendy Portillo said they were going to take a vote, Barton said.

March 11, 2008

Chicago, IL

At least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease, or more than 3 million teens, according to the first study of its kind in this age group. A virus that causes cervical cancer is by far the most common sexually transmitted infection in teen girls aged 14 to 19, while the highest overall prevalence is among black girls—nearly half the blacks studied had at least one STD. That rate compared with 20 percent among both whites and Mexican-American teens, the study from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

March 11, 2008

Washington, DC

Critics who say unions block education reforms and make it virtually impossible to fire bad teachers will offer 10 instructors it deems the nation's worst $10,000 to quit their careers. The Center for Union Facts, a Washington-based nonprofit, will launch a campaign Tuesday spending $1 million on ads and a billboard in New York's Times Square. It also says it's starting a Web site with data documenting how far unions go to protect bad teachers.

March 6, 2008

Los Angeles, CA

An assistant principal of a South Los Angeles middle school was charged Thursday with lewd acts involving a 13-year-old girl on and off the campus. Steve Thomas Rooney, 39, was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday afternoon at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse, according to Deputy District Attorney Darci Lanphere. Rooney -- the assistant principal at Markham Middle School -- is charged with three counts of forcible lewd acts upon a child and two counts of lewd acts upon a child. All of the charges are felonies.

February 26, 2008

Houston, TX

February 8, 2008

Castle Rock, CO

An 8-year-old boy is preparing to return to his home school district in Colorado as a girl, so school officials are designating two school restrooms as unisex facilities, and preparing to counsel other students on the issue of transgenderism.

February 5, 2008

Montgomery County, MD

A member of the school board in Montgomery County, Md., which has been working for years to overcome obstacles to its program that teaches students homosexuality is innate, has told members of a group objecting to the lessons to go away. "To the other side, I say get out of town, shut up, quit costing Montgomery County taxpayers money for litigation, and we're right and parents believe we're right," board member Pat O'Neill said in a report in the Portland, Ore., Examiner.

February 2, 2008

Port Saint Lucie, FL

A campaign has been launched by concerned parents and others in Florida where a school board has adopted an explicit sex ed curriculum that includes various how-to lessons for students as young as fourth grade, and in one incarnation proposed field trips for children to purchase condoms and then talk about their experience.

January 29, 2008

Nashville, TN

A former Metro schools employee pleaded guilty Monday to sexual battery and misconduct charges stemming from accusations that she inappropriately touched two teenage students. Erica Keyonta Bell, 33, was an in-school suspension monitor at Gra-Mar Middle School in 2005 and early 2006, when Metro police began investigating complaints that Bell had fondled a 13-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl several times on school grounds over a monthlong period.

January 28, 2008

Lexington, NC

A counselor for Thomasville City Schools has been charged with having sexual contact with a student. Stanford L. Ray, 50, of Browning Drive, was charged with sexual activity with student by school personnel other than teacher, school administrator or student teacher, which is a felony. He had not been arrested as of late Monday afternoon.

January 28, 2008

Rochester, NY

A former school sentry in the Rochester City School District is on trial today for sex abuse. Andre Johnson faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted of sexually abusing ten boys. Police say some of the abuse happened on school property.

January 28, 2008

San Antonio, TX

A South San Antonio Independent School District elementary school principal has been removed from his post in the midst of a sex investigation involving a student, police said. Michael Alcoser, 41, was recently relieved of his duties at Carrillo Elementary, school district officials said in a letter sent home to parents.

January 28, 2008

Lancaster, PA

A teenage girl told investigators how she and a teacher kissed and had intimate sexual contact inside Warwick High School over a two-year period, according to police documents filed today. Todd Nicholas Sheerer, 29, of 3471 Coronet Ave., Lancaster, the Warwick High School band director, was charged late Thursday with corruption of minors by two area police departments for his alleged relationship with a 17-year-old girl.

December 14, 2007

Gig Harbor, WA

Last week, Raydon Gilmore found a 16-year-old fellow student at Gig Harbor High School listed at the Washington State Sex Offender Information Center, a Web site that lists the state's level 2 and level 3 sex offenders. "Then it hit me that I was in P.E. freshman year, and this kid was there for a while and he was my neighbor at my locker," Gilmore told KIRO. The 16-year-old was convicted of indecent liberties and using force.

November 16, 2007

San Diego, CA

A former history teacher at a San Diego-area middle school has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a charge of possessing child pornography. Forty-year-old Tyrico Tyler was also ordered Friday to register as a sex offender.

November 13, 2007

Lexington, NE

The Nebraska middle school teacher accused of having sex with a 13-year-old student and fleeing to Mexico with him has been fired. Without public comment, the Lexington School Board voted 6-0 Monday night to terminate Kelsey Peterson's contract. The sixth-grade teacher had been put on administrative leave late last month after allegations surfaced that she was having an inappropriate relationship with the student. Peterson, 25, fled Lexington with the boy, a former student of hers, on Oct. 26. They were found in a mall parking lot in the border town of Mexicali, Mexico, on Nov. 2.

October 16, 2007

Cleveland, OH

Two-and-a-half years later, the mother learned the numbing truth: Former tutor Phillip Distasio had molested about a dozen boys during the three years he worked at PEP Harbor School in Cleveland. "Now, when I walk into a school, I wonder what's the motive when I see a guy in the school -- because of Mr. Distasio," the mother told a judge before the confessed pedophile received 26 life sentences last December. "This guy made my son into a freak." Distasio's case is one of 246 that the Ohio Department of Education has labeled "confidential," keeping secret the details of what he did. The state will disclose only that Distasio was convicted of a sex crime.

October 15, 2007

Tucson, AZ

A former Salpointe Catholic High School teacher accused of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student cut a deal today with prosecutors and likely won't spend any time behind bars. Rebecca Kelley resigned in March of this year after authorities found out about the relationship. She was indicted in April on four counts of sexual conduct with a minor, one of those a felony.

September 28, 2007

NORTH BRANCH, MI

A knife assault outside the high school Tuesday has the district dealing with its second major weapons violation in two weeks. A 16-year-old Quest High School student was arrested Tuesday night after another student in the district's alternative high school reported that he had been threatened with a knife about 3:30 p.m. The suspect reportedly was upset about having his car broken into and cigarettes and a lighter stolen Monday at the school, said Lapeer County assistant prosecutor Geoffrey Stuart. Instead of calling police, the boy asked another student in his class to meet him outside the high school during a 3:30 p.m. break where he confronted the student about the thefts, Stuart said.

September 28, 2007

Mineral Wells, TX

Mineral Wells police arrested 17-year-old Joaquin Padron Mancilla Wednesday afternoon for simple assault that allegedly occurred on a school bus. According to police reports, local authorities received a call at 4:09 p.m. from a mother in the 300 block of S.W. 22nd Street in reference to her juvenile student being assaulted by a neighboring student on the school bus. Officials reported that they approached Mancilla and asked if he struck the victim; Mancilla allegedly said he punched him.

September 28, 2007

Lynchburg, VA

Police say the girls track coach at a local school used the internet to try to have sex with a 13-year-old. It's put a dark cloud over Friday night's Nelson County High School homecoming football game at the school. This is a huge shock to the county. Superintendent Roger Collins says the word "shock" is an understatement.

September 28, 2007

Ann Arbor, MI

Parents vented their anger and school board trustees vowed to straighten out the mess during an emotional public forum Monday night, called after two young boys - ages 9 and 11 - were charged with sexually assaulting a 7-year-old on a Howell school bus. The incident came to light recently after the suspects appeared in juvenile court. But police have been investigating the incident since May when it was reported to Southwest Elementary School Principal Jill Hilla, who called police.

September 12, 2007

Salina, KS

Salina police are seeking charges against a 17-year-old Salina Central High School student for allegedly having sex with a minor at school. Kansas Wesleyan I3Instory Trenton Walters, 17, 846 Plaza, was booked at the Saline County Juvenile Detention Center Friday and released to his parents' custody to await an appearance in Saline County Juvenile Court, Sheriff Glen Kochanowski said.

September 9, 2007

Washington, PA

"Work Hard and Be Nice" reads the slogan of the St. Mary's County public schools. Three Great Mills High School students, it would seem, need a refresher course. The St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office arrested three teenage girls on several charges Wednesday after an incident inside a school bus in which authorities said the students became unruly and resisted arrest.

August 31, 2007

Palestine, TX

An 18-year-old former Palestine High School student was found guilty of assault causing bodily injury Wednesday, stemming from an incident last fall during which he struck a teacher in the face with a closed fist. An Anderson County jury deliberated for one hour Wednesday afternoon before finding Christopher Rashad Hall guilty of the lesser-included Class A misdemeanor offense of assault causing bodily injury.

August 31, 2007

Kingsport, TN

A sophomore at Daniel Boone High School is facing assault charges after allegedly choking two fellow students to the point of unconsciousness. The attacks reportedly happened Wednesday on a bus ride home from school. “It was around 2:45 or so in the afternoon,” said Washington County Sheriff’s Office Deputy John Rupe. “There was a load of kids on a bus coming down Rockingham Road.”

August 26, 2007

San Jose, CA

A former Kentfield school teacher has been charged with having sex with two 15-year-old Redwood High School boys during a drunken encounter in Corte Madera, authorities said. Amy Lee Kelly, 41, of Benicia is charged with two counts of lewd acts upon a child and one count of unlawful sexual intercourse, according to court documents. If convicted, she faces a potential prison sentence of more than four years and would have to register as a sex offender, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Kathryn Mitchell.

August 25, 2007

San Francisco, CA

A music teacher at Tehiyah Day School in El Cerrito has been acquitted of molesting a female student but has been convicted of lesser charges of assault and battery. Achi Ben Shalom, 53, of El Cerrito was found not guilty Wednesday of committing a lewd and lascivious act on a girl younger than 14, a felony, after a jury trial in Contra Costa County Superior Court in Martinez.

August 25, 2007

Charlotte, NC

Suspended McClintock Middle School Principal Andrew Thiel, accused of punching a 14-year-old student in the chest in March, was convicted Friday of misdemeanor simple assault. Mecklenburg District Judge Tom Moore placed Thiel on probation for a year after suspending a 20-day jail sentence. The judge fined Thiel $100 and ordered him to perform 60 hours of community service.

August 25, 2007

Albuquerque, NM

A middle school teacher is in big trouble after allegedly soliciting sex in a park. Jonathan Hamilton, 33, and 15 others were rounded up in a recent police sting. Authorities say that the suspects were lurking a public park in search of sex.

August 24, 2007

Columbia, SC

A former Gwinnett County teacher has gone to jail after having sex with a student who was in her class and later giving birth to their child. Authorities say 34-year-old Angela Christine Coffey of Lilburn gave birth to a girl fathered by a 17-year-old student at Meadowcreek High School in Norcross. Coffey coached cheerleading and taught English as a second language at the school, where she was employed from August 2004 to October 2006.

August 24, 2007

Orlando, FL

A 16-year-old Marion County high school student was arrested on lewd and lascivious battery charges after police said she had sex with her 14-year-old boyfriend in a school bathroom. The incident took place on Wednesday during school hours at North Marion High School, officials said.

August 24, 2007

Ocala, FL

A 16-year-old high school student who had consensual sex with her 14-year-old boyfriend in the girl's restroom at their school was arrested and charged with one count of lewd or lascivious battery, according to a Sheriff's Office report. Thursday at about 11 a.m., a deputy was notified about the incident, which reportedly occurred at North Marion High School on Wednesday.

August 24, 2007

Los Angeles, CA

A high school teacher in Corona is behind bars accused of having sex with a 17-year-old female student. Brad Theobald teaches at Centennial High School where he’s an assistant cross-country track coach. Theobald was arrested earlier this week during team practice.

August 24, 2007

Savannah, GA

A Tennessee man who was working at a Savannah private school has been arrested for failing to register as a sex offender. Chatham County Sheriff's Deputies arrested John Kelly Lee Young, 39, who worked at St. Paul Academy for Boys and at Stout Chapel CME as a minister. It wasn't immediately clear what Lee did at St. Paul.

August 24, 2007

Rochester, NY

Tricia Cruz (Bloomfield, N.Y.) -- At a meeting Thursday night, parents in the Bloomfield Central School District learned how to talk to their children about an alleged sex abuse case involving a former custodian. Dahl Rodgers, 55, has been charged with sexually abusing a 16-year-old boy. Investigators say the alleged abuse took place off school property in the year between September 2005 and 2006.

August 24, 2007

Phoenix, PA

A former high school teacher was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison after pleading no contest to charges that he had sex with a 16-year-old student in his classroom. Shawn Trotter, 34, a former history teacher at South Fork High School, had been charged with three counts of sexual activity with a minor. In his plea deal with prosecutors, Trotter also received 10 years of probation and will have to register as a sex offender. Trotter's father-in-law, Richard Mulanax, told The Palm Beach Post that Trotter was innocent but accepted the plea to avoid a trial and the risk of a possible 45-year prison sentence.

August 24, 2007

Shreveport, LA

A Shreveport man is temporarily banned from substitute teaching in Caddo Parish after school officials received reports that he was involved in a sex-for-sale incident where a 17-year-old male was arrested for prostitution. Renard Nash’s name was removed from the list of qualified substitutes on Thursday while Caddo school officials investigate the situation, said Cleveland White, director of classified personnel at the Caddo Parish School Board.

August 24, 2007

Allentown, PA

A former Wilson High School student who tussled with a teacher and ran off with a small amount of marijuana will spend up to 23 months in prison. "You're your own worst enemy," Northampton County Judge Anthony S. Beltrami told Sean V. Kinchen, 19, today. The judge said that Kinchen, of the 1600 block of Northampton Street, Wilson, has a supportive family and, although being held in prison would be difficult, "You can only get better from here."

August 23, 2007

Los Angeles, CA

A John Marshall High School special education teacher was charged today with multiple counts of sexually assaulting three males and one female, the District Attorney's office announced. Fred David Johnson, 60, was set to be arraigned today, said Deputy District Attorney Frances Young with the Sex Crimes Division.

August 18, 2007

Dover, DE

House lawmakers in Delaware approved a bill yesterday that eliminated the two-year statute of limitations for victims of child sex abuse, but it does not apply to public school teachers. An attempt by Rep. Greg Lavelle to pass an amendment waiving immunity for government workers failed (he will try again). The bill now goes back to the Senate. Leading the charge to protect the teachers is Sen. Karen Peterson.

August 3, 2007

Raleigh, NC

A Durham school bus driver accused of having a lengthy relationship with an Orange County teen has been charged with statutory rape , authorities said. Mark Malone Davis, 41, of 260 Cornelius St. in Hillsborough, was charged with three counts of statutory rape and two counts of statutory sex offense. He was being held in the Orange County Jail on a $75,000 bond.

August 3, 2007

Los Angeles, CA

Days away from the start of trial, a former English teacher at Arcadia High School pleaded guilty Friday to committing multiple sex crimes involving a 16-year-old female student in his class. Phillip Sutliff, 34, pleaded guilty to 17 sex-related felony charges, including sexual intercourse with a person under 18, oral copulation of a person under 18, sodomy of a person under 18, penetration with a foreign object of a person under 18, and sending harmful matter over the internet to seduce a minor, said Deputy District Attorney Philip Wojdak.

July 25, 2007

Columbia, SC

A teacher has been arrested for molesting a young female relative, and authorities also are investigating allegations that he had sex with his students. Woodstock police arrested 38-year-old Leonard Templeton Lawley Junior on Monday on charges of child molestation and enticing a child for indecent purposes. He later was released from the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center on 27,000, $700 bond.

July 24, 2007

Memphis,, TN

A mother whose daughter was allegedly solicited for sex by a teacher at a Murfreesboro high school last year has filed a lawsuit against the teacher and school district officials. The lawsuit seeks $200,000 from Siegel High School principal Ken Nolan and former teacher Nalin White, who was accused by the 15-year-old girl of asking her for sex last May.

July 24, 2007

Kalamazoo,, MI

A Kalamazoo school administrator was sentenced to one year in jail and five years of probation Monday for sexually assaulting a former student. James Howard Lighthizer, 54, of Portage, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct as part of a plea agreement. He was initially charged with four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct stemming from encounters that allegedly took place between July and December 2002, according to court records.

July 24, 2007

Toronto, OR

A popular teacher at West Humber Collegiate pleaded guilty in court recently to one charge of sexual assault involving one of his Grade 12 students. Math teacher Scott Keen, 41, agreed to facts read into the court record on July 12 at the Ontario Court of Justice courthouse at 2201 Finch Ave. W. The facts describe an incident that took place on Nov. 3 while Keen and a 16-year-old female student were alone in a classroom.

July 23, 2007

Kalamazoo, MI

A former Kalamazoo assistant principal has received jail time for having sexual activity with a student. James Lighthizer pleaded guilty to one count of Criminal Sexual Conduct back in June. Monday the judge sentenced him to one year in the county jail. The former Kalamazoo Middle School Assistant Principal will have to continue sex offender counseling and is not allowed to have contact with anyone under 18. The only exception is blood relatives, but even then a supervisor above 21 years of age has to be present.

July 22, 2007

Portland, OR

The two boys tore down the hall of Patton Middle School after lunch, swatting the bottoms of girls as they ran -- what some kids later said was a common form of greeting. But bottom-slapping is against policy in McMinnville Public Schools. So a teacher's aide sent the gawky seventh-graders to the office, where the vice principal and a police officer stationed at the school soon interrogated them.

July 22, 2007

Washington, DC

A Kubasaki High School science teacher faces decades-old charges of sodomy and rape involving students in Fayette County, Ky. Jack Russell Hubbard, 60, who has taught in Department of Defense Dependents Schools for 20 years, was arrested July 9 in Johnstown, Pa. He is awaiting extradition to Kentucky to face four charges of third-degree sodomy of a 15-year-old male student and third-degree rape of a 15-year old female student in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

July 21, 2007

Denison, TX

A former Warner school bus mechanic is facing a 20-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a girl. Jimmie Cagle apologized to his tearful 15-year-old victim after admitting that he subjected her to years of sexual abuse. Cagle pleaded guilty on Thursday to one count of lewd molestation and one count of second-degree rape. He was ordered to serve 20 years in prison on the molestation charge and 15 years on the rape charge, with the sentences to run concurrently. A second rape charge was dismissed.

July 21, 2007

Boston, CA

A former high school teacher was indicted on a charge of sexual assault over allegations dating back more than 20 years. Gregory Ingalls was arrested in April at Spaulding High School, where he taught math, and charged with felonious sexual assault. The charge arose after a former student, now 38 and living in Chicago, came forward after going through counseling. Authorities said the man alleged being sexually assaulted at Ingalls' apartment in Raymond between 1982 and 1985, when he was between 13 and 15.

July 21, 2007

Appleton, WI

An October trial date has been set for a former Hortonville coach and teacher charged with sexual assault. The trial for David Janssen, 55, charged with three counts of second-degree sexual assault and two counts of sexual assault of a student by a school staff member has been set for Oct. 15. Waupaca County Circuit Judge Philip Kirk is handling the case for Outagamie County after the Outagamie County judges excused themselves from the case.

July 21, 2007

Glen Burnie, MD

The head football coach at Northeast High School was arrested early Tuesday morning on charges that he beat his 17-year-old nephew with a crutch in the middle of the night. James Cotham, 50, was taken into custody at his Pasadena home around midnight after police were called about a domestic dispute. He was charged with assault and second-degree child abuse by a custodian, according to court records. The impact on the Northeast football program, which starts practice early next month, was not immediately clear. Mr. Cotham has coached in county schools for 25 years, and has been the Eagles' head coach for the past seven. Last year the team won one game, against their Pasadena rival, Chesapeake High.

July 21, 2007

Boston, AL

A former high school teacher was indicted on a charge of sexual assault over allegations dating back more than 20 years. Gregory Ingalls was arrested in April at Spaulding High School, where he taught math, and charged with felonious sexual assault. The charge arose after a former...

July 20, 2007

Dover, NH

A former Spaulding High School math teacher and longtime Barrington School Board member has been indicted by a grand jury on one count of felonious sexual assault. According to a Rockingham County Superior Court indictment, Gregory Ingalls, 56, of 4 Park Lane, Barrington committed the crime of felonious sexual assault between Jan. 11, 1982 and Jan. 9, 1985. Police have said that Ingalls allegedly drove a Rochester teenager to the apartment building he owned on Main Street in Raymond. During this time, the boy's age ranged between 13 and 15 years.

July 20, 2007

Philadelphia, PA

Kevin Styles, 43, of North 38th Street, is charged with aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, according to the Camden County prosecutor's office. The assaults allegedly took place in Camden earlier this year. Styles is an employee of the Camden Board of Education who worked during the school year in the kitchen at Forest Hill Elementary School in the city's Parkside section, authorities said. The defendant was known to the victim but not through the school.

July 20, 2007

Salt Lake, UT

A West High School guidance counselor has been arrested, accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old student. Marco Herrera, 51, is charged with three first-degree felony counts of rape, two first-degree felony counts of forcible sodomy and five second-degree felony counts of forcible sexual abuse, court documents state. He was booked into the Salt Lake County jail in lieu of $250,000 bail. West High School has terminated Herrera's employment, police said.

July 20, 2007

Colchester, CT

A Colchester man has resigned as a teacher and coach at a Catholic high school in the face of charges that he engaged in sexually explicit online exchanges over four months with a Bloomfield police detective posing as a 15-year-old girl. In addition to leaving his teaching job, Michael J. Garvie, 30, resigned as varsity baseball coach and athletic director at St. Bernard School in Montville, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich said.

July 19, 2007

Wilmington, NC

A former assistant principal at a Greenville high school pleaded guilty Thursday to having a sexual relationship with a student four years ago. Circuit Court Judge Edward Miller sentenced Lance Diefenderfer, 38, to one year of house arrest, two years probation and a $3,000 fine after he pleaded guilty to contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Diefenderfer, who had also been a social studies teacher at Southside High School, resigned in September after he spoke to the principal about possible inappropriate behavior, authorities said. He was charged in November after the former student told sheriff's deputies they would talk and kiss in his classroom in 2003.

July 19, 2007

Salt Lake, CA

Police arrested 51-year-old Marco Herrera for a sexual relationship with a fourteen-year-old female on Thursday. Herrera was employed at West High School as a counselor and the alleged victim was a student at West High School. Police say Herrera was arrested on a $250,000 warrant issued for three first-degree felony counts of rape; two first-degree felony counts of forcible sodomy; and five second-degree felony counts of forcible sexual abuse. Herrera was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail.

July 19, 2007

Lexington, KY

A Fayette county jury believes lynne Maner's story of prolonged sex abuse at the hands of her teachers and they believe her mother reported her suspicions to then superintendent Guy Potts and that the district was negligent by not responding and putting a stop to it. "There have been secrets and cover ups of sexual abuse. To have it drug out into the light of day I believe it can only help begin the healing process not only for me personally but hopefully for the school system," Maner says. For the loss of her education and earning potential and pain and suffering they awarded Maner $3.7 million.

July 18, 2007

CLAYTON, OH

Investigators said bond was set at $500,000 for a Northmont Middle School teacher who is accused of having sex with a 14-year-old student. Jason Simmons, 36, was arraigned Wednesday morning from the Montgomery County Jail. His attorney asked the judge for a lower bond, but the request was denied. Simmons pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual battery, unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and importuning. Simmons is a special-education teacher at the middle school. District officials said they do not believe that the alleged victim was one of Simmons’ students.

July 18, 2007

Indianapolis, IN

A former Perry Meridian High School teacher pleaded guilty today in Marion Superior Court to charges stemming from an online sting by the prosecutor's office. Kevin Walsh, 28, admitted one count of child solicitation and one count of disseminating matter harmful to a minor. He was arrested in July 2006 after chatting online with an investigator posing as a 15-year-old girl. No meeting took place. Both charges are felonies, with the more serious carrying a penalty of two to eight years in prison. Walsh pleaded guilty without any sentencing restrictions.

July 18, 2007

Jackson, MS

A Holmes County school employee faces a one million dollar sexual assault lawsuit, filed by a student and her mother. The 14-year-old student claims cafeteria worker Harold Epps sexually assaulted her on a district bus, when the school band was returning from a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Grenada.

July 17, 2007

Midland, TX

Charged with two counts each of sexual assault of a child and being an educator who had an improper relationship with a student, the former Midland Academy Charter School teacher could get as many as 80 years in state prison if convicted. A seven-man, five-woman 385th District Court jury was impaneled Monday to hear four second-degree felony allegations against former Midland Academy Charter School mathematics and social studies teacher David Alan van Houten, who is accused of molesting a student last fall.

July 16, 2007

Bloomington, IL

10pm UPDATE: Illini Bluffs School Board President Ross Fink tells WMBD 31 News that John Walker has been suspended with pay from the district until further notice. The principal at Illini Bluffs Elementary School was formally charged today with two counts of criminal sexual assault. 42-year old John Walker was arrested on Sunday. Bond was set today at 75 thousand dollars and Walker bonded out of jail soon after his court appearance.

July 16, 2007

Arizona, AZ

Jennifer Mally, the Paradise Valley High School teacher accused of having sex with an underage student, will stand trial Oct. 16. The trial date was set at an initial pretrial conference last week. Another pretrial conference will take place in August. Mally, who taught English and coached the cheer squad at the north Phoenix school, is accused of 17 counts of sexual conduct with a minor, starting in October 2006 and ending in April. She was arrested on May 2.

July 16, 2007

Chicago, CT

A former girls basketball coach faces a minimum 10-year prison sentence after a federal jury found him guilty of attempting to solicit sex from minors using the Internet Matthew Hensley, 24, was charged last August after police spotted him heading into a Valparaiso park where he had arranged a sexual rendezvous with an undercover agent posing as a 13-year-old girl. A jury of five men and seven women convicted him Friday.

July 15, 2007

Moline, IL

Champaign County Sheriff Dan Walsh says a local high school coach convicted of criminal sexual assault has apparently fled to the Netherlands. Walsh says 25-year-old Yuri Ermakov, a Russian citizen who lived in Urbana, apparently flew from Indianapolis to Newark and then on to Amsterdam just hours after a Champaign County convicted him. Ermakov was expected to be present for Thursday's sentencing, but didn't show up, so Judge Jeff Ford issued a no-bond warrant for his arrest.

July 14, 2007

Baltimore, MD

A former teacher who was hired by Baltimore City schools after leaving the Baltimore County system amid questions about his relationship with a 13-year-old student was sentenced yesterday to a year and a half in jail for committing a sex offense against the girl. Before the judge announced his punishment, Timothy Nicholas Gounaris, 50, of the first block of Cardor Court in the Perry Hall area, apologized to the girl, who is now 15, as she looked on from a front-row bench in court with her parents. He also sought forgiveness from his family for "the terrible mistakes I've made."

July 14, 2007

New York, NY

Two Long Island teenagers have been arrested on charges of plotting a terrorist attack on a Suffolk County high school — with a “hit list” of specific students — around the ninth anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre, police officials said yesterday. The plot was discovered after a handwritten journal detailing the attack was found last week outside a local McDonald’s and turned over to the authorities, the police said. The police said the journal contained “numerous terrorist threats and plans to attack” the school, Connetquot High School in Bohemia, with guns and homemade explosives on or about April 20, 2008 — the ninth anniversary of the 1999 assault at Columbine, in which two students killed 13 people before taking their own lives.

July 13, 2007

Madera, CA

A Madera County, California teenager is the second boy in the past two months to file a lawsuit against school officials, coaches, teammates and their legal guardians for a sexual assault that allegedly took place at a football camp for Gustine High School players. In the suit filed in the Madera County Superior Court, the teen and his mother allege that three teammates used an air mattress pump nozzle to assault the boy.

July 12, 2007

San Jose, CA

Albany police arrested a longtime volunteer for the Albany High School wrestling team Thursday on suspicion he sexually assaulted a boy more than 20 years ago. Jon Cary Etingoff, 54, of El Cerrito, was arrested Thursday afternoon on suspicion of seven felony offenses, including lewd and lascivious acts, said Albany police Sgt. Tom Dolter. Etingoff is being held in lieu of $80,000 bail at the Alameda County jail in Oakland. The case has not yet been forwarded to the Alameda County District Attorney's Office. Police would not say how the victim came in contact with Etingoff.

July 12, 2007

Dothan, AL

OPELIKA, Ala. (AP) - A Beulah High School employee has been arrested and charged with sexual abuse in connection with alleged sexual contact with an 18-year-old former student. According to a news release from the Lee County Sheriff's Office, 45-year-old Charles Randle Bochette of Cusseta, was charged with first-degree sexual abuse Wednesday. The alleged abuse occurred when the male victim reportedly went to Bochette's residence on the morning of July 4th.

July 12, 2007

BEAVER, PA

A former high school teacher and son of a former school board president pleaded no contest to having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student. David M. Costanza, 28, of Baden, was sentenced to six months to two years in jail after entering his plea Wednesday to statutory sexual assault. As part of a deal, prosecutors dropped charges of aggravated sexual assault, indecent assault and corruption of minors.

July 12, 2007

MONTESANO, SC

Hoquiam High School coach Todd Hoiness has pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct with a minor involving a girl he coached on the school wrestling team. The plea was entered Wednesday under an agreement between Hoiness and Grays Harbor County prosecutors, who reduced the charged from a felony to a misdemeanor, The Daily World of Aberdeen reported. Hoiness, 40, initially was charged with having sexual intercourse with the girl. In his plea, he admitted sexual contact, including kissing and touching.

July 11, 2007

WEST VALLEY, UT

A former English teacher at Cyprus High School is facing child sex abuse charges after police say an officer caught her sexually abusing one of her male students. The West Valley City officer says he found 33-year-old Christy Brown in a parked car with a 16-year-old student near 2900 South and 5600 West. Police say Brown admitted having sex with the boy multiple times since April. He is believed to be the only victim.

July 11, 2007

Dallas, TX

A Rowlett High School history teacher has been arrested on an accusation he sent sexually explicit messages and photos to someone he thought was a 15-year-old girl. Robert Rigby, 52, of Rowlett was arrested Monday and charged with online solicitation. He posted $10,000 bond and was released from jail Tuesday, said John Ellison, a Rowlett police spokesman. Denton police said sexually explicit chats and photos occurred online between June 6 and June 29. The “girl,” was in reality a police investigator, said Jim Bryan, a Denton police spokesman.

July 11, 2007

MIAMI, MI

A championship football program is on the line as Miami-Dade County school officials discuss suspending Miami Northwestern Senior High School's team for the 2007 season. The school has been under fire since its principal was charged with official misconduct, accused of covering up a sex scandal involving a football player.

July 10, 2007

Salt Lake, UT

The Salt Lake District Attorney's Office filed charges today against a former Cyprus High School English teacher accused of having sex with one of her juvenile students. Christy Anne Brown, 33, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Sunday. She was charged in 3rd District Court today with three counts of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse. Brown was arrested after a West Valley City police officer found her in a parked car along with a male juvenile near 2900 South and 5600 West.

July 10, 2007

Kansas, MO

A former high school swim coach pleaded guilty this morning to soliciting sex from someone he thought was a girl under the age of 16. Andrew P. Lovan of Kansas City pleaded guilty to one count of electronic solicitation. Lovan entered into a plea agreement with the prosecution that recommends a 36-month prison sentence. When Lovan was charged in February, the Johnson County sheriff’s office Internet Investigations Unit said it had started investigating Lovan 11 months earlier, while he was the head swim coach at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School. Deputies alleged that after chatting online with a detective posing as a 14-year-old girl, Lovan went to meet the teen for sex.

July 10, 2007

Munster, IN

A former teacher's aide, who pleaded guilty to reduced charges stemming from having sex with two male students, will not go to jail or register as a sex offender for her crimes. Amber Marshall, 25, of Hebron, was sentenced Monday by Porter Superior Judge Roger Bradford to nearly six years on formal probation, day reporting and will undergo sex offender treatment if needed. She is forbidden from having further contact with the two victims. Porter County Deputy Prosecutor Cheryl Polarek has said Marshall has undergone two evaluations and both determined she poses no threat of committing further sex crimes.

July 8, 2007

Miami, FL

A high school athletic department head has stepped down after coming under fire during a sex scandal that involved the school's star football player and an underage classmate. Miami Dade school officials say the resignation of Gregory Killings as Northwestern Senior High's athletic director is a "positive step" toward letting the school move on. Killings said his decision was "more personal than anything else."

July 7, 2007

Nashville, TN

A former Clarksville teacher and basketball coach was sentenced to three years of probation for performing sexual acts with a minor. Bryan Farmer will serve only 60 days in the Montgomery County Jail, according to a written order submitted by Judge John Gasaway Friday. "This court finds that some confinement is particularly suited to provide an effective deterrence to others likely to commit similar offenses," Gasaway wrote. "The court finds that the sentence ... imposed is the least severe measure necessary to achieve the purposes for which the sentence is imposed."

July 6, 2007

Orlando, FL

A seventh grade Seminole County teacher was arrested on Friday on 50 counts of possession of child pornography after police said he had numerous photos of children engaged in oral sex and sexual intercourse on his home computer. Robert Howard Williams, 62, of Sanford, was charged after investigators said they received several complaints about the Millennium Middle School teacher's online activity, including his MySpace account. According to a Seminole County Sheriff's Office report, a 19-year-old former student was concerned with the numerous "friends" on Williams' MySpace account who appeared to be middle-school age girls.

July 6, 2007

Salt Lake, CA

A former Dixie High School teacher has been charged with allegedly touching four female students in his ceramics class during the past school year. Ronald Scott Sherman, 61, is charged in 5th District Court with five counts of sexual battery, each a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail. Deputy Washington County Attorney Ryan Shaum said two of the five counts were filed in connection with one of the alleged victims. The teens told police Sherman had either touched or grabbed their buttocks during class, according to a probable cause statement filed with the charges.

July 6, 2007

Gaithersburg, MD

A Montgomery County grand jury issued a new indictment Thursday for the middle school teacher charged with sexual abuse of a minor in May and arrested again last month on a second set of similar charges. Joseph Robert Ballmann, 47, of Rockville, was originally indicted by a county grand jury June 14 on a set of charges filed against him in May.

July 6, 2007

Jacksonville, FL

A spanish teacher in Washington state is accused of getting a student pregnant. Court documents show the 16-year-old student met 25-year-old Alex Garza at the start of the school year at Moses Lake High School. The girl says she started to develop feelings for Garza during one-on-one spanish lessons.

July 5, 2007

Tucson, AZ

A Scottsdale high school janitor convicted of raping a 14-year-old student on campus was sentenced Thursday to 80 years in state prison. Roberto Lemus-Retana was found guilty in May of four counts of sexual conduct with a minor under the age of 15, one count of sexual abuse of a minor and one count of public sexual indecency Lemus-Retana, 27, faced between 52 and 86 years in prison.

July 4, 2007

Roseville, CA

A former Roseville middle school teacher pleaded guilty Tuesday in an Auburn courtroom to charges of having unlawful sex with a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Kelly C. Spaich, 28, appeared before Judge Robert McElhany, alongside her Auburn attorney Tim Balcom. She was sentenced to 400 hours of community service, four years formal probation and four months in jail, Balcom said.

July 3, 2007

San Francisco, CA

A San Bruno high school band teacher pleaded not guilty Monday to multiple felony charges for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old female student. Adam Albrecht, 28, of Broadmoor, faces 16 felony counts of oral copulation with a minor and 16 felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse after he allegedly began a physical relationship with one of his students in February, Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. The relationship apparently lasted until June, Wagstaffe said. Albrecht is also charged with witness dissuasion, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and contributing to the delinquency of a minor for allegedly providing the girl with alcohol and marijuana, Wagstaffe said.

July 2, 2007

Salt Lake, WA

A former Washington County school teacher was arrested for alleged sexual abuse of several of his students, according to St. George Police Sgt. Craig Harding. Harding says 61-year-old Ronald Sherman, formerly a teacher at Dixie High school, turned himself in, in cooperation with the investigation, and was booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility Monday afternoon. Harding says Sherman was booked on 1 count of forcible sexual abuse and 4 counts of sexual battery. There were 4 victims that made statements to our investigator that led to these charges being filed, added Harding.

July 2, 2007

San Jose, CA

A San Bruno high school music teacher charged with having sex with a 17-year-old female student appeared in San Mateo County Superior Court this afternoon for the first time since his arrest Thursday. Dressed in a red prisoners uniform, Capuchino High School band teacher Adam Albrecht, 28, pleaded not guilty to 16 felony counts of oral copulation with a minor and 16 felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, as well as additional charges of witness dissuasion, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and possession of less than one ounce of marijuana. Albrecht was arrested without incident Thursday night at his Broadmoor home, Broadmoor police Lt. Dave Parenti said. According to Parenti, the alleged crimes between Albrecht and the student took place primarily at Albrecht's home, between January and April of this year. Police were notified after one of the girl's parents told the superintendent, Parenti said.

July 2, 2007

Kansas, MO

A former Lawrence High School teacher pleaded guilty Monday in Douglas County District Court to one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a student. Meredith Kane, 24, who was in her first year of teaching, was arrested March 16 for having sexual relations with a 15-year-old boy. Kane could face 55 months to 247 months in prison.

July 1, 2007

Iowa, IA

The number of police calls to area schools has sharply increased in recent years, according to the Sixth Judicial District Juvenile Delinquency Annual Statistical Report. The report, which includes Johnson County, shows that police responded to 563 complaints within the Iowa City School District. West High had the most complaints to police with 176, up 77 percent from 99 in 2004 and up 123 percent from 79 in 2002, according to the report. At City High, police responded to 134 complaints in 2006, down 31 percent from 194 in 2004, when it had the most complaints of juvenile delinquency compared to similar schools in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines.

June 30, 2007

Oakland, CA

Police arrested a Capuchino High School music teacher Thursday night on allegations that he had sexual relations with a 17-year-old student. Adam Glen Albrecht, 28, was arrested about 8 p.m. at his residence on the 400 block of A Street in Broadmoor without incident, police Lt. Dave Parenti said. Investigators searched his residence and seized evidence. Albrecht was booked into the San Mateo County jail on suspicion of 35 felony charges of oral sex and unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, and four misdemeanor charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Police said they are recommending that many charges because there were 35 incidents involving Albrecht and the student. All of the crimes happened at his residence, inside a vehicle and at two other residences, Parenti said. Police would not disclose where the other residences are.

June 29, 2007

Tribune, PA

A special-needs teacher, who won last year’s Teacher of the Year award from an autism support group, was charged Thursday with assaulting three autistic boys at Carbondale Elementary School in April. Jane Forgione, 61, of 142 Ross St., Dunmore, was charged with simple assault, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum five-year prison sentence if convicted. Mrs. Forgione is a teacher with the Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit. According to a criminal affidavit signed by Lackawanna County Detective Chris Kolcharno: On April 26, Mrs. Forgione punched a student in the back after telling him to push in his chair. The punch caused a “red mark” on the student’s back and was witnessed by two teachers’ aides in the back of the classroom.

About Me

I am the wife of a hard-working pastor and a stay-at-home Mom to our nine wonderful kids - Solomon (15), Isaac (14), John (12), Miriam (10), Rebecca (8), Anna (6), Stephen (5), Boaz (3), and Chloe (1).
We spend our days learning, working, playing, and putting out all kinds of fires as we serve our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Read all about the good, the bad, and the ugly days right here on my blog.

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Solomon (15)

Typical firstborn. Very intelligent and logical. Loves to talk. Likes for things to be "right" and organized. Very honest and fair. Exceptional musical talent. Great helper with younger siblings. Very kind and loving.

Isaac (14)

Loves anything to do with being outdoors: riding bikes, hiking, camping, caring for animals, exploring, horseback riding, etc. Very reliable and polite. My "Mr. Fix-It" man. Never ever complains. Tough, but has a very tender heart. Devours books at incredible speed.

John (12)

Our quirky child. Funny and artistic. Precocious and empathetic. Loving older brother to his younger siblings. A bit of daredevil.

Miriam (10)

Beautiful and sweet. Kind and mothering with her younger siblings. Loves being by my side 24/7. My big helper. Has a great sense of style.

Rebecca (8)

Full of energy. Smart and mischievous in a very loveable way. Very tidy. Loves to help with anything she can. Dotes on her younger siblings. Daddy's girl, bookworm.

Anna (6)

Sweet girly girl. Loves pretend playing with her siblings and her dollies. Wants to be a big girl like her sisters. Tenderhearted.

Stephen (5)

Full of energy. Loves to climb onto anything. Wild and rambunctious. All boy, and always happy. A smaller version of his dad, with whom he shares his name and birthday.

Boaz (3)

This little guy is an extra special blessing after a complicated twin pregnancy. Mellow and easy-going. Chatterbox. Smart cookie with a heart of gold.

Chloe (1)

Currently the youngest member of our family. A precious little doll that brightens all of our lives. Smiles, coos, gives kisses, and brings joy every day.